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By Contributing Writer Jimmy Payne Whenever I buy a new game, there is an urge for me to buy the strategy guide for it. I don't know why, but it has become a habit. Maybe it's the sense of comfort I get when I'm playing a really tough game and I know the answer to all my problems is sitting right next to me. Maybe it's because the Babbage's employee brainwashes me by saying the phrase, "You get the strategy guide 20% off when you buy it with the game." Whatever the reason, I need my strategy guide! The worst part about this fetish is that I always need to get the "official" guide. For some reason, the word "official" in front of strategy guide just makes me want that strategy guide over the others more. From now on, though, the word "official" isn't going to sound so nice in front of strategy guide anymore. Just recently I purchased Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Of course, I had to purchase the strategy guide because I've never played a Zelda game where I haven't had to use a strategy guide. I had three choices and to no big surprise, I picked the official one from Nintendo. About two days went by and I finally needed some help out of the strategy guide. I opened it up for the first time and I was a bit confused because for some reason the makers of the guide felt the need to fill the first 20 or so pages with information that was already in the instruction manual. This didn't bother me that much, but when I finally found what I was looking for, the steam started coming out of the proverbial ear. To explain what I'm talking about, I'm going to describe where and what I was trying to do and then quote a small passage out of the book so you can see how frustratingly unhelpful this book really is. Don't worry, this won't give away anything about the game because I won't tell you exactly what area I was in. Don't be afraid to read on. Anyway, I was in a room where there were blades running back and forth across the floor and I needed to get to the other side. When I got to the other side I couldn't find the exit to the room. There was a block and a ladder at the end of the room. At the top of the ladder there was what appeared to be the exit, but I wasn't sure how to open it. Here's what the book said: "Link faced a room filled with razor traps along the narrow passages. He jumped into a short passage where no blades moved, then waited for another blade to pass before skipping to the other side. There he pulled a block out of the wall and climbed to the exit." This tells me absolutely nothing. First, it talks about what the blades looked like (which I left out for your convenience) and then says he basically climbed up the ladder and went out the door. I'm afraid it wasn't that easy for me. I had to spend 30 minutes figuring out what to do with a bomb I found (and you need to do something with the bomb, mind you) which the book never even mentions. This book even failed to explain all the treasure chests in the room. This may not seem to be important, but if it's a good strategy guide it will explain and reveal everything. There are other things that the book left out, but so I don't spoil the game in the process of bashing the book, I'm going to just hope you get the idea. Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is probably (in my opinion) one of the best games of the year, but stay away from the official strategy guide that comes straight from (you guessed it) "the pros at Nintendo."
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com